Voice of Democracy: Is This The Country the Founders Envisioned?

Gary Peterson served in the army during Viet Nam,
and Duff Woolsey served in the Airforce.  Both enlisted,
and they are both great guys and part of our local VFW.

Brigham Renfroe
Voice of Democracy
17 October 2020
Is This the Country the Founders Envisioned?

Our country is a free country, and has the luxury of liberty throughout its states. America is home to over 328 million people, all with equal rights. However, if we fail to hold to the ideals that promote liberty, we will be the cause of our own demise. 

Nothing in this world is guaranteed. Many of our country's founders fought in the Revolutionary War.  They sacrificed everything possible, so that they could create lasting liberty. They fought, but were never guaranteed victory. They didn’t know what we know: that they would bring about the birth of a great nation that would promote freedom throughout the world. They did not know they were going to win; they could only hope. But we know that their vision of “a new nation, conceived in liberty” was ultimately realized.  

Our founders envisioned freedom, but we are not letting freedom prevail. We cannot fall back into racism, discrimination, hatred, and violence. These divisive problems are not new to our country’s history, and founding men and women of all races and creeds worked together to rid this country of these problems--problems which limit that freedom. Our predecessors envisioned our country to be stable, peaceful, and successful. If we fail to respect freedoms for all, our success, liberties, and stability will only suffer.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said that our founding fathers were “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion. How have we respected that truth? By showing hatred and discrimination against minorities? By wanting to segregate, avoid, or shun people of another race? By hating people because they do not share the same political views, religious beliefs, or heritage as we do? 

Now is the time to finally leap over this ugly hurdle, and act on our beliefs that all people are created as equals, and that our differences are our source of strength.  E pluribus, unum means “From many, one.”  Someone's race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or political standpoint does not define their character. It does not make someone a better or worse person. The call for equality has gone on far too long. Our founders envisioned peace, peace that cannot be achieved as long as there is discrimination and bias. 

Any person who is just that--a person--has the same rights as every human, and should be treated with equality. We shouldn't hate anything except for hate itself. Hatred and anger are tearing this country apart, hatred is merciless, and hatred will be the end of our freedoms and liberties if we do not change. 

Dallin H. Oaks, a former Utah supreme court justice, recently stated that there are two extremes in relation to protesting. One of these extremes is believing that “protest” is a horrible offense that should be looked down on. The other extreme is violence and that rioting is the only way to be heard or seen. “Neither of these extremes,” Oaks said, “are ethical, peaceful, or correct.” We have a constitutional right to assemble and to protest; it is not illegal.  Far from illegal--it is actually the correct way to address wrongs that need to be righted--marches and protests were the first ways that women gained attention for the right to vote.  On the other hand, rioting and destruction of property is illegal--it weakens arguments and stains causes that need to be championed. 

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson worked together to accomplish great things, and were vital in the foundation of the U.S. But they both had very different views on a lot of things. For example, though both of them owned slaves; they claimed to be against slavery.  Washington freed his slaves when he died; Jefferson did not. They both had different ideas on the government system and did not always agree with one another. But they respected each other's differences, looked at the things they had in common, and made incredible things happen.  By working together, they founded this country's freedoms.  One of them had the courage to act on his convictions--can we not learn from history and do the same?

Think of a simple Venn diagram, made of partially overlapping circles.  We all have differences in our heritage, our beliefs, our religions. These things belong to the parts of the Venn diagram that might not touch. But we all have similarities as well--and the similarities usually outnumber the differences. We are all Americans. We can all vote once we are 18.  We can speak freely about our beliefs--we can all assemble and share our opinions, regardless of whether others agree. We are all, in our own ways, pursuing happiness, as the Declaration of Independence states.  These are the things that fit into the middle of that Venn diagram, these are the qualities that have created our nation’s freedoms and strength.  But, if we keep focusing only on our differences, on those things at the outside of the diagram, we will only tear our country apart.

Freedom is not something to be taken for granted, but something to treasure, adore, and to care for. When we get involved in the angry and divisive tactics of people who want power, we attack the very thing that makes our nation strong.  

“From many, one.”  That is what America’s founders chose as our nation’s motto.  We can yet live up to their hopes for our country--it is up to us to come together and be one.